National Blog

This Week in Congress Update

Vote on Yemen, Campaign for Liberty Supports the Grassley Amendment to Farm Bill

Flood Insurance:

Today, the House will consider legislation extending the federal flood insurance program for one week. This could be a sign that Congress is close to a deal on flood insurance or that they simply intended to throw a longer-term extension into whatever type of Omnibus spending bill.

Federal flood insurance is supposed to be funded by premiums paid by those in flood-prone areas. However, the program is currently over $28 billion in debt, and has already received an influx of $16 billion from the US Treasury in October of 2017. Yet Congress ignores the growing crisis and just keeps extending the program year after year . . . so add flood insurance to the long list of the federal government’s unfunded liabilities.

Now some good news:

Yesterday, the Senate voted to discharge S.J. Res. 54, which ends US involvement in Yemen. Earlier this month, the House blocked efforts to bring a similar bill to the floor, so it is good to see the Senate doing this.

Campaign for Liberty President Norman Singleton joined other free-market leaders in issuing a statement in support of Senator Charles Grassley’s amendment to the farm bill. Senator Grassley’s amendment would ensure that millionaires -- some of whom are not actively engaged in farming -- would not receive farm subsidies. The House and Senate are currently working on a final version of the farm bill, which could be considered before Congress adjourns.

Here is Mr. Singleton’s statement:

“At a time when our nation’s economic future is threatened by skyrocketing federal deficits, it is mind boggling that any member of Congress would object to stopping some millionaire farmers -- many of whom are not even full-time farmers -- from receiving federal farm subsidies.”